This special edition of Culture Shock hosts three Turkish songwriters with different musical approaches. Istanbul based Ahmet Ali Arslan and Ozan Sarohan are coming to town and Utrechter Yank merges powers with them!

After the event, we'll cycle together to Criss Cross Festival for more beautiful Turkish music with Gaye Su Akyol on stage! Don't have a ticket? You can get your discount ticket at De Voorkamer on the event day!

Entrance: €5 (Combo with Criss Cross: €20 instead of €25)

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Ahmet Ali Arslan

Ahmet Ali Arslan combines a singer/songwriter approach with new sounds from traditional Turkish music. After two EPs from İstanbul-based independent music collective Müzik Hayvanı, his debut album Günaşığı was released in 2018 by Z Müzik/Kalan – the bastion of traditional music in Turkey. The first video clip was shot for the song Gözlerimdesin by director Bora Bekiroğlu, with Tolga Akman as the lead actor. A year later, his new single Bir Nefeslik is now out independently. Since his Sofar performance in 2014, Ahmet Ali Arslan has appeared in many video performance sessions. Now he produces performance videos from his own garden in a series he calls Bahçeden, continuing to host fellow singers for duets – published once every two weeks.

Adana-born Turkish singer-songwriter Ozan Sarohan’s interest in music has begun in his early childhood. He has been an active musician in several musical projects including Ahmet Ali Arslan, Dem, Sükut and polyphonic choirs, singing and playing different traditional instruments such as bouzouki, lute and fretless guitar.

On April 2018, he relesead his debut album “Güneşe Türkü”. He bases his album on rooted musical traditions of Anatolia and enriches them with his original narration.The melancholic spirit of his music is filled with notes of peace and hope. Ozan Sarohan is accompanied by Ahmet Ali Arslan (guitars) and Ozan Kısaparmak (bass) on stage.

“Turkish multi-instrumentalist Yank brings the joyous melancholy on stage, combining sweet melodies and unique harmonies with lyrics in his mother tongue. Though his compositions stem from singer-songwriter traditions, he definitely enjoys mixing up many influences in his genre-bending approach.” -Tivoli Vredenburg

After being part of well known bands of Istanbul’s alternative music scene such as Nekizm, Pitohui and Selim Saraçoğlu, Yank released his first solo album I/I on November 2016 via Istanbul based online table Who Are We Who We Are, which he composed and produced himself in Utrecht. Since then, he's been playing many shows in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Turkey. He's currently releasing home-productions in a series called '18m2' and working on his upcoming studio releases.

'Culture Shock' is a pilot for a sub-project of De Voorkamer where artists with diverse backgrounds are invited to collaborate for intercultural and interdisciplinary activities. The program has three aspects of nights: Live shows by artists of diverse culture intersections with their existing sets, professionals that meet each other for the first time to collaborate towards a unique performance in 'Mash Up' events and moments for the audience to share knowledge and talent themselves by joining workshops and improvisation evenings like ‘On The Spot’.